Dutch drop comes in a remarkable range of shapes, and many of them double as names: ask for muntjes, katjes or schoolkrijt and a Dutch shopkeeper knows what you mean. Shape is a useful hint to the kind of drop inside, but not a rule — the same coin can be sweet or salted depending on the maker and the pack — so the label still matters.

RUIT MUNT OVAAL HONING KAT STAAF SCHOOLKRIJT BLOKJE BEERTJE KOKINDJE
Ten common drop forms. Shape hints at the kind of drop inside, but the label is the reliable guide.

Classic lozenges

  • Munt (coin) — round, flat pieces, often stamped like coins; see muntdrop. Venco's muntendrop carries old guilder values.
  • Ruit (diamond) — the rhombus, common in both sweet and salted ranges.
  • Ovaal and rondjes — ovals and small rounds, sold in every salt level.
  • Briket (brick) — a small block, often used for salted and double-salted lines.
  • Honingdrop — honey-flavoured; Venco's is shaped like a beehive. See honingdrop and laurierdrop.

Sticks, laces and coated drop

  • Schoolkrijt ("school chalk") — short sticks of soft licorice in a white sugar coating, flavoured with anise and mint. If you remember a white-coated Dutch licorice with a minty taste, this is probably it.
  • Veters (laces) and staafjes (rods) — extruded soft licorice, sold by length or in rolls.
  • Engelse drop — the Dutch name for licorice allsorts: layered and coated pieces of licorice with coloured fondant and coconut.

Figures

  • Katjes (cats) — the sitting cat of katjesdrop, almost always sweet and soft.
  • Boerderijdrop — farmyard animals, usually sweet.
  • Kokindjes — small soft balls stamped with a K, made by Katja, flavoured with licorice, salmiak and anise.
  • Autodrop — cars and other vehicles from the brand of the same name, made by Concorp in Friesland.

Hard or soft

Almost every shape can be hard (firm, slow to dissolve) or zacht (soft and chewy). The texture is usually printed on the pack next to the salt level, and it changes the experience as much as the flavour does.

Reading a mixed bag

As a rough guide: figures and children's shapes are usually sweet; white-coated drop is usually sweet with anise or mint; pieces dusted with grey-white powder are usually salmiak-coated and salted; bricks and small rounds lean salty. For the salt words on the pack see zoute drop.